FarmQA mobile scouting app: overview and filling out a scouting report

The FarmQA mobile scouting app is a flexible and powerful tool that you can use to scout and manage your fields. With so much functionality available in the FarmQA mobile app, it can be a bit difficult to get oriented. Check out the article below to learn about getting the FarmQA mobile app setup on your mobile device, as well as how to navigate the app and use some of its basic functionality. 

Downloading/accessing the FarmQA mobile app

Navigating the FarmQA mobile app

Filling out a scouting report

Add a picture or draw on a map when making an observation

Resume an In-Progress Report

Start an Adhoc report

Downloading/accessing the FarmQA mobile app

The FarmQA mobile app is available on Apple mobile devices running iOS or iPadOS 12.0 and newer and Android devices running Android OS 8.1 or newer. However, scouting can still be done on an older device by using your mobile web browser. Below, you'll find information about the device requirements and were to download the FarmQA mobile app, as well as how to access it through your mobile web browser. 

iOS (Apple) device requirements

• iOS/iPadOS version 12.0 or later
• Minimum of 2 GB of RAM (4 GB is recommended)
• Download link: FarmQA Scouting on the App Store (apple.com)

Android device requirements

• Android OS 8.1 (Oreo) or later
• Minimum of 2 GB of RAM (4 GB is recommended)
• Download link: FarmQA Scouting - Apps on Google Play

Access the FarmQA mobile app from your mobile web browser

• Open your preferred mobile web browser, such as Safari for iOS or Google Chrome for Android.
• Go to the following web address: scouting.farmqa.com/
• From here, you will be able to log in to your FarmQA mobile app. You'll be able to access all the functionality of the app version of the FarmQA mobile app, with the following exceptions:

• Your GPS location will NOT be available.
• Photo capture will NOT be available.
• You will NOT be able to scout offline. 

NOTE: Performance may vary based on the amount of data in the customer's account

Navigating the FarmQA mobile app

Permissions: ALL USERS

• There are six main pages within the FarmQA mobile app: Fields , Scouting , Advice , Work , Learn , and Settings . Below, you'll find an overview of the functionality you can find within each page: 

Fields  

• There are two tabs you can use to access your fields from in the Fields page: the MAP tab and the LIST tab (pictured below). The MAP tab will display a map of all of your fields in the level of your organization you're working in (top left-hand corner). The LIST tab displays all the fields in the level of the organization you are working in as a list. This list can be sorted in the following ways: 
  • Distance from your current location. 
  • Name in alphabetical order.
  • Crop assigned to the field, listed in alphabetical order.
  • Plant date sorted in chronological order.
  • Harvest date sorted in chronological order.
  • Harvest amount sorted in ascending order.
  • The most recent Scouted date for each field sorted in chronological order.
  • The most recent Recommendation date for each field sorted in chronological order. 

• Press the Slide-out map pane to access overlay and imagery options (pictured below). 
  • Base layer: choose one of our four base layer options to populate under your fields.
  • Overlays: turn on the township section line layer to add an overlay of the PLSS township section lines to your map.
  • Field color: choose what attribute to color your fields by. The options are Crop, Varieties, Farms, and Task. If Task is selected, you'll also be given the option to color by a certain task type and the status of those tasks. 
  • Markers: access any global map layers you have synced up with your mobile app. 

• The four white buttons in the upper right-hand section of the map view give you options for viewing and zooming into your field or current location: 
  • The Zoom in and Zoom out buttons to adjust the extent that you are viewing.  

• Click the Zoom to location to snap the area displayed in the map view around your current location. The button will now be replaced with .

• Clicking the button will activate Compass mode, which will reorient your map view based on which direction you are facing, like a compass. Clicking the button will revert the app to the default orientation setting. 

• Pressing the Zoom to extent button will extend the map view to the extent of the fields within the organization you're currently viewing. 

• Use the Search bar at the top of the MAP or LIST tabs to search for a field in your organization. You can search for fields by field name, crop assigned to field, or by organization branch.
• In the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, you'll find an adjusting scale that gives you an idea how large distances are on the display. This scale is available both when you're working at a grower or farm level and when you're within a specific field (pictured below). 

• Clicking the Information button next to the scale will pull up a legend that gives you a breakdown of the acreage taken up by each group you're coloring your fields by. In the example below, you see the acreage planted to the crops in the displayed fields as the user is coloring their fields by crops. 

Scouting

• The Scouting tab is split into two main sections: the In-progress reports and the past reports. Pressing the Select button above the upper right-hand corner of each respective section allows you to select and perform actions on those reports:
   
  • In-progress reports:
    • Delete an in-progress scouting report(s).
    • Submit an in-progress scouting report(s). These submitted reports will then be added to your past reports.
  • Past reports: 
    • Select the submitted scouting report(s) you'd like to export to a PDF .
• You can find any In-progress and Past reports by using the Search bar at the top of the screen. Reports can be searched for by the field name, the farm the field is in, and crop assigned to the field.
•  Clicking on the Filter button above the Past reports section lets you apply one of the following filters to your list of past reports:
  • All reports in growing season.
  • All reports in the last day.
    • NOTE: this filter can be edited to let you edit the filter to only see reports filled out within the last 1 to 180 days (pictured below).

• All reports in the last 30 days.
• My reports in the last 6 months.
• The Sort button will allow you to sort your past reports list in the following ways: 
  • Date
  • Field
  • Organization
  • Organization and field
• Clicking the Select button will select the reports you want to export. You'll then be able to click the PDF button to export those reports. 
• By clicking on the blue Add button at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, you can start a New batch scouting report or a New ad hoc scouting report. 

Advice

• The Advice tab is split into two main sections: In progress recommendations on the top and Past recommendations on the bottom. Pressing the Select button above the upper right-hand corner of each respective section allows you to select and perform actions on those reports:
  • In progress recommendations:
    • Delete an in-progress recommendation(s).
    • Submit an in-progress recommendation(s). This will move the recommendation(s) to the Past recommendations section. 
  • Past recommendations:
    • Pressing the Filter button will allow you to filter your Past recommendations in the following ways: 
      • Submitted this growing season.
      • Submitted in last 7 days.
        • NOTE: Clicking the Edit icon next to this option will allow you to enter a custom timeframe between 1 and 180 days to filter out past recommendations for. 
      • Submitted in last 30 days.
      • My recommendations in last 6 months. 
    • Select the past recommendation(s) you'd like to export to a PDF .
    • Mark your desired recommendation(s) as Complete or In-progress. A recommendation marked as In-progress will be moved to the In-progress recommendations section.
• You can find any In-progress and/or Past recommendations by using the Search bar at the top of the screen. Recommendations can be searched for by looking up the field name, the farm the field is in, and crop assigned to the field.

Work

• Using the Filter at the top of the screen you'll be able to select whether you want view Tasks assigned to you or All tasks that you have permission to see within your organization.
• The Sort tasks by button at the top right-hand corner of your task list will allow you to sort your displayed tasks in the following ways: 
  • Finish by
  • Task type
  • Priority
  • Assigned to
  • Distance 
  • Task id
• Clicking the Add button at the bottom of the screen will allow you to create a task of any task type that has already been added to your FarmQA account. 

Learn

Use the Learn page to access resources that you can use to learn more about using FarmQA. At the top of the screen, you'll be able to access sections relating to different FarmQA topics, like SCOUTING, ADVICE, and ANALYTICS. You'll likely want to stay in the SCOUTING section to learn more about the FarmQA mobile app (pictured below). In each section, you can click on the Video icon to watch a video relating to the topic or click on the Read icon to read a support article relating to the topic. Un-checking the Show in main navigation? box below the FarmQA logo at the top of the screen will remove the page from the bottom tab.

Settings

1. Click on Sync Now to sync your app up with your main FarmQA account. This will allow for all of your field, scouting report, and map layer information to be synced from your main account to your mobile device.
2. Use Layer Sync Preferences to choose the map layers you want to sync up with your FarmQA mobile app. You can also choose the farms and organizations to sync your map layers for. Check out this article to learn more about syncing map layers to your FarmQA mobile app. 
3. Setting up your Geo marker preferences will allow you to setup scouting locations based on the locations of your scouting reports. Whatever number you set will be the number of days your scouting reports will generate a location you can return to in the field. 
4. If you disabled the Learn more about FarmQA page, you can still access those resources from the Settings tab by clicking on the button pictured below. 
5. Conserve your mobile data by toggling on the Upload pictures on WiFi option. 
6. We recommend toggling your Save pictures to photo library setting on so that you can have a backup for your observations made during scouting.
7. If you're scouting in an area that has poor cell reception, toggle on Offline mode . While in Offline mode, the background imagery in the app will not be drawn but your field boundaries will load, and you will still be able to make scouting observations. Check out this article to learn more about scouting in offline mode. 

Filling out a scouting report in the web app

Permissions: ENTERPRISE ADMIN, AGRONIMIST, TECHNICIAN+, TEHCNICIAN

• In the Fields page, locate a field you'd like to scout.
• Click on the field, then click on the field a second time and select Add observation in the menu that appears at the bottom of the screen (pictured below).

• Click on the various headers in the scouting report template to record the necessary information to complete the report (pictured below). 

• When you're done filling out information in your scouting report, click on the green Submit button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Click the Submit button to finish submitting your scouting report (pictured below). 

• A message saying Scouting report has been submitted will pop up at the bottom of the screen once your report has been successfully submitted. 

Add a picture or draw on a map when making an observation

Available from the: MOBILE APP

Permissions: ENTERPRISE ADMIN, AGRONOMIST, TECHNICIAN+, TECHNICIAN

• Start filling out a scouting report. Read about how to fill out a scouting report by going to this section.
• Once you've made an observation that you want to add a picture or a map drawing to, click on the Edit button next to the question (pictured below).

• Choose one of the following options:
  1. Draw on map to add a point or draw on the map in an area that corresponds to the observation you made.
  2. Press Take Picture to take a picture corresponding to the observation you just made.
  3. Reset Question lets you delete the observation you've already made so you can reset your answers. 
• When using the Draw on map function, you have access to the following options for drawing on the map: draw verticies to draw a simple shape outlining your observation, draw polygon to create a more complex shape, draw circle to create a perfect circle, or place a pin corresponding to the location of your observation (pictured below). 

Resume an In-Progress Report

Available from the: MOBILE APP

Permissions: ENTERPRISE ADMIN, AGRONOMIST, TECHNICIAN+, TECHNICIAN

• Click on the Scouting icon, then locate the report you'd like to continue in the IN PROGRESS REPORTS section. You can search for reports by entering the assigned crop, farm, or field corresponding to the scouting report you want to continue (pictured below). 
  • NOTE: if there are any in-progress reports that need to be completed, you'll see a red notification over the upper right-hand corner of the Scouting icon that denotes the number of reports that need to be completed. 

Start an Adhoc report

Available from the: MOBILE APP

Permissions: ENTERPRISE ADMIN, AGRONOMIST, TECHNICIAN+, TECHNICIAN

• Click the blue Add button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, and then click the New ad hoc scouting report button (pictured below).

• Complete the following steps to setup your adhoc scouting report (pictured below):
  1. Input the Field name(s) of the field(s) you're scouting with this adhoc report (this report will not be associated with these field(s) and will not be found within the field journal).
  2. Select the Template you want to complete this scouting report with. 
  3. Choose the Farm/Organization this adhoc report will be stored within.

• When you've completed these steps, click the Start button. 
• Your adhoc scouting report will be associated with your current location, which will be displayed on your screen. To create your adhoc report, click on the blue Add button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and click the Add observation button (pictured below). 

• You can now fill out your adhoc report as you would any other scouting report in your account. If you want to start this report and finish it later, it will populate in the In-progress section of your scouting report page in your mobile app.